Adolph Coors

Adolph Herrman Kohrs, who later changed his surname to Coors, was born in Germany in 1847. To help his family earn money Coors worked as a printer’s assistant until he turned 15, when he started working as an apprentice at a brewery in Germany. As an apprentice, he learned how to make beer from the master brewer. Later, Coors learned how to run a successful brewery. When he he turned 21 years old, Coors immigrated to the United States by stowing away on a ship headed to Baltimore, Maryland. Having no money and speaking very little English, Coors decided to head West in search of new opportunities. In 1872, Coors moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked as a gardener and a manager of a bottle plant six days a week. Coors worked hard and saved his money with ambitions to one day open his own brewery. In 1873, all of his hard work had paid off, and Coors went into business with Jacob Schueler. They bought an old tannery building and opened the Golden Brewery. Coors eventually took over as owner of the company, and renamed it Coors Golden Brewery. By 1880, Coors Golden Brewery began seeing widespread success in Colorado. Coors married Louisa Weber in 1879 and they had six children. In the late 1800s, Coors built a home on the grounds of the brewery. During Prohibition, the Coors Company stayed in business by making cement, porcelain, and malted milk instead of beer. Coors also created a non-alcoholic beer called Mannah. Coors died in Virginia Beach, Virginia on June 5, 1929. His sons took over the business. Although Coors beer was only sold west of the Mississippi River, it was well known all over the country. People drove across the country to buy cases to take home. Former President Gerald Ford was said to have loaded cases of Coors beer onto Air Force One. The Coors brewery continues to be one of the most successful in the country, and remains the largest single-site brewery in the world, producing more than 17 million barrels of beer each year.